Sports history is weirdly short-sighted. If you ask a random fan at Crypto.com Arena about the Lakers and Dwight Howard, you'll likely get one of two extreme reactions. Half the crowd remembers the 2012 "Now This Is Going To Be Fun" Sports Illustrated cover that aged like milk. The other half pictures the 2020 NBA Bubble, where Dwight was basically a human brick wall who helped LeBron James and Anthony Davis secure a ring.
It’s a bizarre, three-act play. Act one was a disaster. Act two was a redemption story. Act three was... well, act three was just a very quiet exit.
The 2012 Trade That Broke Everything
Honestly, the first time the Lakers and Dwight Howard joined forces, it felt like a guaranteed championship. On paper, it was unfair. You had Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, and the reigning three-time Defensive Player of the Year. The Lakers sent out Andrew Bynum in a massive four-team deal that felt like a heist.
But chemistry isn't built on paper. Dwight arrived with a surgically repaired back that clearly wasn't 100%. He averaged 17.1 points and 12.4 rebounds that year—numbers most centers would kill for—but he wasn't Orlando Dwight. He lacked that explosive verticality.
Then there was the Kobe factor. Bryant was a tactical, "no-days-off" assassin. Dwight was, and still is, a guy who plays with a lot of jokes and smiles. They clashed. Hard. Kobe famously called him "soft" during a game after Dwight had left for Houston. The 2012-13 season ended with a sweep at the hands of the Spurs, a torn Achilles for Kobe, and Dwight walking away to the Rockets in free agency.
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Lakers fans hated him. They booed him every time he touched the ball in Los Angeles for the next six years.
The 2020 Redemption Nobody Saw Coming
Fast forward to 2019. DeMarcus Cousins tears his ACL. The Lakers are desperate. They need a big body to take the physical pounding off Anthony Davis. Dwight Howard, who was basically out of the league and carrying a reputation as a "locker room cancer," begs for a chance.
The Lakers gave him a non-guaranteed, veteran minimum contract. It was basically a "one mistake and you're gone" deal.
And he was perfect.
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He stopped trying to be the primary scoring option. He focused on three things: rebounding, blocking shots, and getting under the skin of opposing stars. During the 2020 Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, Dwight's primary job was to harass Nikola Jokić. He did it so well it changed the momentum of the series. He averaged 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in the playoffs, but his impact was massive. When the Lakers won the title in the Florida bubble, Dwight was the first person to go Live on Instagram, crying and holding the trophy, telling people never to give up on their dreams.
It was one of the most successful image rehabilitations in sports history.
Why the Third Stint Felt Different
After a brief year in Philly, Dwight came back to the Lakers and Dwight Howard fans for a third run in 2021-22. This time, the magic was gone. The roster was a mess—the Russell Westbrook experiment was in full swing, and the team was old.
Dwight still put up decent numbers for a bench veteran, averaging 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds. He even had a random 24-point explosion against the 76ers late in the season. But the team missed the playoffs entirely. While the 2020 run felt like a movie, the 2022 run felt like a reunion tour where everyone forgot the lyrics.
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The Numbers That Actually Matter
If you look at the total body of work for Dwight in a Lakers jersey, the stats are surprisingly consistent despite the wildly different roles he played.
- Total Games: 205
- Career Lakers Average: 10.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.5 BPG
- Field Goal Percentage: A ridiculous 61.6% (mostly because he stopped taking mid-range jumpers and just dunked everything).
- Accolades: 1 NBA Championship (2020), 1 All-NBA Third Team (2013), 1 All-Star appearance (2013).
The "What if" game is strong here. If Dwight had been healthy in 2012, or if he and Kobe had sat down and actually talked like adults, the Lakers might have dominated the mid-2010s. Instead, we got a decade of drama.
The Reality of Dwight’s Legacy in L.A.
Most people get his Laker tenure wrong by focusing only on the 2012 failure. But you can't tell the story of the 17th championship banner without him. He went from being the most hated man in the city to a cult hero who accepted a "dirty work" role.
His relationship with Shaquille O'Neal didn't help. Shaq, a Lakers legend, spent years poking at Dwight on Inside the NBA, largely because Dwight used the "Superman" nickname. This created a narrative that Dwight was never "Laker Great" material. Maybe he wasn't Shaq or Kareem, but he was exactly what they needed in 2020.
What you can do next:
If you want to understand the tactical side of why the Lakers and Dwight Howard worked in 2020 but failed in 2012, watch the 2020 Western Conference Finals Game 4 film. Pay attention to how Dwight fronts Jokić in the post. It’s a masterclass in "star in your role" basketball. You can also track the Lakers' current frontcourt issues to see how much they miss a physical, traditional "bruiser" center that Dwight once provided for a league-minimum salary.